I'm still kinda worried about pedal strike with my bike but it's a track bike with 165mm cranks. I put the pedal down to the bottom of its stroke and leaned the bike over until it touched... I've never cranked a bike over that hard including my road bike on big descents or in races, I'm sure I'll be fine.

been riding fixed for the past 9 years but my knee has turned to mush (been told that 52 is too young for a replacement) so for the past year I've been alternating 3 weeks fixed and 1 week geared. Group rides are also geared now days, Kings Park was getting a bit too hard on the knees. Prefer riding fixed though.

total knee replacement. Given my age, the life span of the replacement joint and you generally can only replace the joint twice, when I get to 75-80 I'd be truely stuffed. Physio also told me not to do it if I wanted to continue skiing, knee replacement screws up your proprioception. Knee injuries are nasty, my son had 2 acl recons by the time he was 16 (soccer)

I flipped the rear today, bit of a pain getting the tension right and the wheel properly centred but good to go. Nothing too long or demanding as me head is full of snot.

Not easy getting into constantly moving toeclips after years of SPuDding it but it'll come natural over time.

You really gotta stay on top of yer game doing this, don't you? Forgot meself and attempted to coast a few times. Bad Idea! I'm never ever going to try brakeless, by the end of 90" I could control speed reasonably well but I like to be able to stop hard whenever it's needful.

I doubt FG will ever be more than an enjoyable diversion for me but I now understand why the devotees rave, there is something hugely visceral about the whole experience

Now... Why was I finding it almost impossible to trackstand, even for a second or two. I'm good for anywhere up to 20s on a freewheeler.

...whatever the road rules, self-preservation is the absolute priority for a cyclist when mixing it with motorised traffic.London Boy 29/12/2011

It's worth noting he isn't talking about very low gears, just reasonable gears to keep the spin going rather than always having to push hard and struggle to 'get on top of' your gear. for that reason something around 68~70in is considered an excellent gear by those who no longer have to manfully prove they can push an 85in on the roads.

If you want to ride a fixed gear bike then do it right from the start so you have a chance to 'like' it rather than do as so many seem to... build it, try it twice, then flip over to the freewheel side. There is no benefit, no compelling reason whatsoever to riding single speed freewheel.

some ideas- ride it, love it. Begin in quiet area or backstreets and concentrate on being smooth. It is much better to have a smooth pedalling style than to be a masher. When you forget to pedal - there is no 'if' in this equation, it's a matter of when - a smooth pedal style will see you get a gentle push from the drivetrain to remind you rather than a violent 'thrown over the bars' action.

- use foot retention and brakes. They exist for a reason, use them. Riding in the city is greatly eased by being able to clip in / unclip with either foot and to 'prop' with either leg, you're only half a revolution away from a safe stop and can easily adjust pedal position. If you can't, learn and practise. Extended trackstanding is for egoists.

- begin easy, build to expert. Know what you and your bike is capable of before testing the limits... of... braking before the back wheel lifts, of steering before the fixed drivetrain pushes your front end into the turn... what sort of lean you can dial into a corner before you need to worry about pedal strike... of whether you can bunnyhop small obstacles at any speed... of whether you can scratch your arse whilst riding fixed... whether you can safely look over your shoulder without wobbling like a loon into the middle of the lane... what your comfortable cadence actually is... on the flat... what your theoretical maximum cadence is so you don't find out halfway down a hill that you're not in control...

- a note about cadence and being on top of your gear. Regardless of what you think, you're not as fast as you think, and any claims of 'I regularly hit 200rpm' should be treated with the scorn they deserve. Want to know more about cadence and gearing; I could write you a small book on the subject.

- if you're going to do any serious riding on a fixed gear you'll get caught with the wrong gear at some point, indeed there's a school of thought which suggests fixed gear bikes means always being in the wrong gear. I tell new riders to choose a gear which will allow them to get home the last 15 miles of a ride into a 20mph headwind.

rustychisel wrote:If you want to ride a fixed gear bike then do it right from the start so you have a chance to 'like' it rather than do as so many seem to... build it, try it twice, then flip over to the freewheel side. There is no benefit, no compelling reason whatsoever to riding single speed freewheel.

Or, simply (perhaps mistakenly) buy a set of wheels with a fixed/fixed rear hub. Solve your freewheel issues in one fell swoop. I know you can use freewheels on fixed threads, but hey, purist, anti-kludge, etc.

I think I've got it bad. Took her out before work to get something for me tucker. Not 300m from the front gate it started coming down by the tankful. Meh, keep going. Did what I had to do then took the long way home. Got home soaked to the skin with an ear loosening grin, had to take a shower and barely got to work on time. What a great day

Can I fit a quicklink to a FG chain for easy removal for cleaning?

Shaun

...whatever the road rules, self-preservation is the absolute priority for a cyclist when mixing it with motorised traffic.London Boy 29/12/2011

Mulger bill wrote:Damn right you did Dave and I owe you and some others a beer for it.

I think I've got it bad. Took her out before work to get something for me tucker. Not 300m from the front gate it started coming down by the tankful. Meh, keep going. Did what I had to do then took the long way home. Got home soaked to the skin with an ear loosening grin, had to take a shower and barely got to work on time. What a great day

Can I fit a quicklink to a FG chain for easy removal for cleaning?

Shaun

Pic one or pic 2 in this shot?

The first one is the standard for track chains I believe, the second I've only ever come across roadies. That said you'd assume it was ok as the pressure either forward or back is always going to be keeping it stretched and locked you would think.

As for the persisting, it's totally worth it, and i'm glad you did. Doing it with brakes is the most sensible option, and gives you the chance to trial legs only if you want with the bonus of brakes for declines and emergencies. As someone who came to fixed riding late it certainly was a big turn on for me, and still remains a hook or buzz that I can tune into , that normal road riding can't provide. The whole fixie fad seems to be fading a little with many of the scenesters opting for retro steel roadies and cyclocross nowadays. In the early days much wankery about the zen and connectedness to the bike were touted about and became cliched, but there is something about it that has it's dirty little pleasure and rewards for the converts. it takes a little time and persistence, but once the hook is in it's hard to shake. Over the last 5 years I've had a love hate thing with it and built and sold a few FG bikes, both track and conversion. it's no mistake that I've finally landed a bonafide Aussie built classic tracky that ticks all boxes, and I'm in love again.Just the simple pleasure of spending half an hour belting up and down my street this arvo on the Bundy is enough to keep me grinning for the rest of the day. Rustychisel is an old hand OG fixed rider who commutes fixed and has a sweet, sweet vintage frame with nice bits that would make you go ooh ,and aaah. His experience, advice and words on the subject of anything cycling, fixed or road are something I have come to value highly, and i enjoy my chats with him when we catch up. I hope that a few others will be inspired by his post and flip their wheels and have a crack at fixed. And yes Rusty I've been out re aquainting that group of muscles that only fixed riding uses and working on my "souplesse" and rolling circles. I must be getting stronger too as this bike came with a 49x16 drive train (80GI) that I thought would be too big, but I seem to be handling it just fine, even on the hills about my area, and keeping on top of it on descents(brakeless). certainly wouldn't commute on this gear but it's not as bad as I'd first feared. RC will surely tell me off for going brakeless, but that's his role as the senior and more mature gent that he is.

This is easy, as is no hands riding, scratching the nose, adjusting the helmet or even taking a drink.... It's scratching my ankle as it rotates ceaselessly that does my head in. It's the one and only time I wish i could coast

Yeah, the first one was the one I was thinking of, the circlip link as Ox mentioned, have to hunt one up.

I find I'm using the brakes less and less for speed control and I'm getting a smoother spin out of it which should in time translate to improvements when the derailleur bikes come out. Oddly enough, when I'm riding her, I don't worry about speed or distance, maybe because I haven't fitted a 'puter but I'm not actually caring either. Call me wayne kerr if you will but I'm getting a huge buzz out of the whole zen connectedness thing. I've always found with any bike that once in the zone we morph into a single entity but finding the zone quickly appears to be mandatory if pain is to be avoided.

Biggest issue so far is getting into the pedals, I ditched the supplied flats after the first ride and picked up a pair of VP 393 clip and strap from the LBS for $25 but flipping them over to get into the clips is horribly hit and (mostly) miss I don't want to put SPuDs on as they go against the whole casual jump on and go thing I want from this bike, more practice?

...whatever the road rules, self-preservation is the absolute priority for a cyclist when mixing it with motorised traffic.London Boy 29/12/2011

You can get some pretty casual shoes in SPD's. I find them a hell of a lot better/easier than straps & clips. If the backside is falling out of the fixie scene I am hoping there will be a price drop soon. I would love to start a decent build once my family court woes have subsided. I saw a Kenevans frame on here for $500 which looks damn sweet but can't spare the coin at the moment.

Just a word of caution I crashed my fixie yesterday after pulling my foot out of an SPD pedal during a standing sprint. I've pulled my feet from SPD's before on bikes with a freewheel and was able to recover but not on the fixie, I've also been slowly winding the tension up as I'm pulling harder but clearly not enough. I've never had this problem with my SPD-SL pedals though even on minimum tension setting, that's why I use them on this bike when at the track but I wanted to us SPD's yesterday so I could talk around in the shoes...

AndrewBurns wrote:Just a word of caution I crashed my fixie yesterday after pulling my foot out of an SPD pedal during a standing sprint. I've pulled my feet from SPD's before on bikes with a freewheel and was able to recover but not on the fixie, I've also been slowly winding the tension up as I'm pulling harder but clearly not enough. I've never had this problem with my SPD-SL pedals though even on minimum tension setting, that's why I use them on this bike when at the track but I wanted to us SPD's yesterday so I could talk around in the shoes...

i've heard this before, but it's yet to happen to me in 5 years of use. I like to keep my cleats looking good and have replaced them once in that 5 years, as insurance.

BRLVR.v2 wrote: i've heard this before, but it's yet to happen to me in 5 years of use. I like to keep my cleats looking good and have replaced them once in that 5 years, as insurance.

Cleats have less than a year on them and look new other than having the blacking worn off them a bit, pedals likewise and are about half way along the tension scale. All I can think of is that when I'm sprinting and the bike is rocking back and forth maybe I twist my feet a bit too? But I've done the same thing with the SPD-SL's at least as often and never pulled my foot out of them.

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